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Sepulcher
Sepulcher is a 2009 war epic by Happy Hour Films, starring Victoria Breckinridge, David Hilbun, and Jacob LaCombe. It is viewed as one of Happy Hour's finest early works due to its costumes and action sequences. It is also the first film produced by the group to tell multiple storylines at once. Plot The film opens on Major Fritz Diedrich overseeing the arrival of a German convoy during the occupation of Saint-Marie. Suddenly, the tank explodes due to a bomb planted by members of the French partisan movement. Diedrich notices three of the convoy destroyers standing around and watching the carnage, and he fires at them. Two of the partisans are killed, and a third is captured. In the aftermath of the convoy explosion, Diedrich has sentenced the captured partisan to death by firing squad. Before he can be shot, Pierre LeMieux, the second-in-command of the French resistance, attacks the German firing squad in an attempt to save his comrade; this attempt proves unsuccessful as Diedrich personally shoots the captured partisan while the other soldiers chase LeMieux. After an intense chase sequence, LeMieux is able to dodge the German patrol and make it back to the safety of the French resistance headquarters. In the resistance headquarters, LeMieux argues with resistance leader Jean-Claude Marsalles over the wisdom of his rescue attempt. Their fight is interrupted by partisan radio operator Louis Pasbon, who has translated a coded message to the resistance cell hidden in a BBC broadcast. The message states that an important target moving through Saint-Marie should be eliminated at all cost. In the headquarters of the German command, Colonel Wilhelm von Lieder is notified by Captain Mueller of the SS that Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini will be briefly passing through the town, and that their security will be his responsibility. Von Lieder's planning of the security measures is interrupted by Major Diedrich's report on the convoy attack. After hearing that fourteen men were killed by the convoy destroyers and that LeMieux escaped, von Lieder personally executes Diedrich. After the body is removed, von Lieder calls in Diedrich's second-in-command, Captain Karl Stauffen. Von Lieder promotes Stauffen to Major, and briefs him on the situtation. In the French hideout, Marsalles and LeMieux plan the assassination of Adolf Hitler by night. Unbeknownst to the partisans, they are being spied on by Pasbon, who is revealed to be a double agent named Marque Logeaux, in the employ of the Gestapo. Logeaux, called Schmidt by the Germans, reports the plans to von Lieder. Three days later, Hitler is passing through town, accompanied by Benito Mussolini. While Marsalles and two partisans set up on the ground, with LeMieux taking position upon the town's water tower. Due to Logeaux's intervention, Stauffen and his men capture the partisans on the ground, with Logeaux personally going after LeMieux. After a tense showdown resulting in the death of Logeaux, LeMieux attempts to complete the mission on his own. Unfortunately, the shots go wild and he is only able to succeed in nonfatally wounding Mussolini before being forced to flee. The next day, LeMieux again attempts to rescue his partisans. The film ends on a freeze frame of LeMieux charging from the brush, firing at the Germans. Cast *Victoria Breckinridge as Jean-Claude Marsalles *David Hilbun as Pierre LeMieux, Maximilian Reisenweber *Jacob LaCombe as Oberst Wilhelm von Lieder *Seth Dickerson as Hauptfach Fritz Diedrich *Mark Logan as Marque Logeaux/Louis Pasbon *Trent Istre as Hauptfach Karl Stauffen *Michael Hilbun as Randolf Mueller *Hannah Knott as Fraulein Elsa Fegelein *O'Neil Landry as Adolf Hitler *Travis Meche as Benito Mussolini *Joel Hilbun as Nazi chauffeur Behind the Scenes *The film's original working title was "The Underground." Hilbun eventually changed the title to "Sepulcher" because he thought it was a cool-sounding word. *All of the French characters' names are jokes: "Marsalles" is supposed to be a French version of Marshall, "Pasbon" translates to "Not Good," and "LeMieux" means "The Best." *Similarly, the name "von Lieder" was chosen due to "Lieder" being phonetically identical to the English word "leader." *The character of Pasbon was originally written with Trent Istre in mind, and in early drafts of the script the character's first name was "Trenton." *The footage of the Nazi marching band was actually taken from archived footage of a different project the group had been working on. During production, the school's marching band had passed during their practice, and the team filmed them as a joke, unaware of how useful this footage would later prove. *Most of the film's score comes from the original soundtrack of the critically acclaimed PlayStation 3 game, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Category:2009 Films Category:Epic Films Category:War Films Category:Films